Freezing Solar Energy Projects on Public Land

Posted by Laura Flanders, Firedoglake at 11:00 AM on July 2, 2008.

So much for the Government’s much touted commitment to alternative energy…

The New York Times reports the Bush administration has placed a nearly two year moratorium on the construction of new solar energy projects on public land. While the amount of oil drilling and gas drilling on public land has reached a new high -- the President approved over 7,000 new licenses last year alone --- the Bureau of Land Management is saying it needs until the spring of 2010 to study the environmental impact solar projects might have on land in Arizona, Nevada, California and other western states.

Meanwhile the Defense Department is resisting orders to clean up Fort Meade, and two other military bases where dumped chemicals pose an imminent threat to the public health. The Pentagon doesn't want to follow the law requiring them to clean up. And guess what, the EPA is letting them get away with it.

So how about it -- do you feel Defended? Protected, Managed? I say it's time for some departmental renaming: What do you call a Defense Department that makes you sicker, an Environmental Protection Agency that won't, and a Bureau of Land Management that seems to be more about managing popular expectations about energy resources than managing public land?

You can post your suggestions here in the comments section.

Tagged as: energy, solar